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2 Chronic Diseases
Chronic diseases are contrasted with the more common infectious diseases that can
be transmitted directly from other persons, insect or animal bites, or indirectly from
contamination in the environment, typically via bacteria and viruses (Mayo Clinic).
For centuries infectious diseases have ravaged humans with common diseases along
with flu and plague epidemics.
About 100 years ago public health officials began reducing and often effectively
eliminating infectious diseases in the United States and other developed countries.
They cleaned up polluted environments, such as horse manure in streets and sewage
dumped into rivers in which children swam and from which communities took their
drinking water, and chlorinated drinking water. Finally, researchers developed antibiotics to treat bacterial diseases and vaccines to prevent viral disorders, as they
came to understand these sources of harm. These combined efforts left chronic diseases as the major source of maladies experienced by people in developed countries
(Armstrong et al. 1999).
Chronic diseases often originate in early life and develop insidiously. They
persist “for a long time … [typically] lasting 3 months or more …. [and] generally
cannot be prevented by vaccines or cured by medication, nor do they just disappear”
(MedicineNet). They are now the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in
developed countries (Fries et al. 2011; Vineis et al. 2014). They can result from bad
luck, unfortunate genes, personal behavior, or the actions of others, and can interfere
with normal biological functioning, good health, and human flourishing.
Physicians are concerned, inter alia, with arteriosclerotic plaque that can lead to
acute thrombotic events or vascular insufficiency, osteoarthritic bone spurs that trigger joint pain or disability, glucose intolerance resulting in diabetes, and emphysema that can reduce pulmonary reserves. Neoplasms become cancerous with age
(Fries et al. 2011).
Physicians recommend patients avoid behaviors that risk causing the diseases:
never smoke, avoid obesity, avoid sedentary behavior, and don’t drink to excess
(Fries et al. 2011). Adhering to this advice can delay “the age of onset of chronic
illness [with its morbidities]… and [squeeze] the most of [life’s] morbidity into a
shorter period with less lifetime disability” (Fries et al. 2011).
Failure to make health protective choices may lead to lesser or more serious
morbidities that may interfere with normal biological functioning and to greater or
lesser misery during one’s lifetime. Individual choices plus medical care can reduce
the risks of many common chronic diseases. Fries et al. (2011) explain that an
important facilitator of chronic diseases is having insufficient organ reserves to help
withstand the onset of diseases. People who exercise consistently can have eight to
sixteen years of lesser morbidities compared with average non-exercisers.
Importantly for what follows chronic diseases can also be caused by the actions
of others in creating and distributing substances in commerce that are toxic to
human beings. Toxic substances can cause inter alia neurological dysfunctions,
immune system disorders, cancers, lung diseases, some coronary-artery diseases
and some diabetes (Trasande and Liu 2011).
C. F. Cranor
2 Chronic Diseases
Chronic diseases are contrasted with the more common infectious diseases that can
be transmitted directly from other persons, insect or animal bites, or indirectly from
contamination in the environment, typically via bacteria and viruses (Mayo Clinic).
For centuries infectious diseases have ravaged humans with common diseases along
with flu and plague epidemics.
About 100 years ago public health officials began reducing and often effectively
eliminating infectious diseases in the United States and other developed countries.
They cleaned up polluted environments, such as horse manure in streets and sewage
dumped into rivers in which children swam and from which communities took their
drinking water, and chlorinated drinking water. Finally, researchers developed antibiotics to treat bacterial diseases and vaccines to prevent viral disorders, as they
came to understand these sources of harm. These combined efforts left chronic diseases as the major source of maladies experienced by people in developed countries
(Armstrong et al. 1999).
Chronic diseases often originate in early life and develop insidiously. They
persist “for a long time … [typically] lasting 3 months or more …. [and] generally
cannot be prevented by vaccines or cured by medication, nor do they just disappear”
(MedicineNet). They are now the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in
developed countries (Fries et al. 2011; Vineis et al. 2014). They can result from bad
luck, unfortunate genes, personal behavior, or the actions of others, and can interfere
with normal biological functioning, good health, and human flourishing.
Physicians are concerned, inter alia, with arteriosclerotic plaque that can lead to
acute thrombotic events or vascular insufficiency, osteoarthritic bone spurs that trigger joint pain or disability, glucose intolerance resulting in diabetes, and emphysema that can reduce pulmonary reserves. Neoplasms become cancerous with age
(Fries et al. 2011).
Physicians recommend patients avoid behaviors that risk causing the diseases:
never smoke, avoid obesity, avoid sedentary behavior, and don’t drink to excess
(Fries et al. 2011). Adhering to this advice can delay “the age of onset of chronic
illness [with its morbidities]… and [squeeze] the most of [life’s] morbidity into a
shorter period with less lifetime disability” (Fries et al. 2011).
Failure to make health protective choices may lead to lesser or more serious
morbidities that may interfere with normal biological functioning and to greater or
lesser misery during one’s lifetime. Individual choices plus medical care can reduce
the risks of many common chronic diseases. Fries et al. (2011) explain that an
important facilitator of chronic diseases is having insufficient organ reserves to help
withstand the onset of diseases. People who exercise consistently can have eight to
sixteen years of lesser morbidities compared with average non-exercisers.
Importantly for what follows chronic diseases can also be caused by the actions
of others in creating and distributing substances in commerce that are toxic to
human beings. Toxic substances can cause inter alia neurological dysfunctions,
immune system disorders, cancers, lung diseases, some coronary-artery diseases
and some diabetes (Trasande and Liu 2011).
C. F. Cranor